The famous football player and coach passed away at the age of 75.
He died at the age of 76 former head coach of the Ukrainian national football team Mikhail Fomenko.
The Sumy Region Football Association reported the tragic news on its website.
Fomenko was born on September 19, 1948 in the village Malaya Rybitsa, Sumy region. He is a graduate of the Sumy football school “Spartak”.
During his playing career, Mikhail played as a defender and midfielder for Spartak Sumy (1965-1970), Lugansk Zarya (1970-1972) and Kiev “Dynamo” (1972-1979). In total, he played 280 matches at the club level, in which he scored 9 goals.
Together with Dynamo, he became the champion of the USSR three times (1974, 1975, 1977), won the USSR Cup twice (1974, 1978), won Cup Winners' Cup (1975) and UEFA Super Cup (1975).
Fomenko also played for the USSR national team (1972–1976), having played 24 matches. Mikhail is a silver medalist at the 1972 European Championship (he was part of the team, but did not participate in the matches), and a bronze medalist at the 1976 Olympic Games.
During his coaching career, Fomenko led Dynamo, Metalist, ” Veres” and other clubs. Fomenko, at the head of Dynamo, became the champion of Ukraine in the 1992/93 season and the winner of the 1993 Ukrainian Cup.
In addition, he was the head coach of the Ukrainian national team (2012-2016). Mikhail led the “blue-yellows” to Euro 2016, where the national team under his leadership failed to leave the group, losing all three matches.
Fomenko is an international master of sports, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Honored Coach Ukraine and Georgia, Honored Worker of Physical Culture and Sports of Ukraine, Honorary Citizen of Sumy.